For instance, a hinge-lid type package of this type is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-58777. This well-known package includes a box-shaped outer body having an opening end at the upper end thereof. The outer body contains an inner pack in its inside, and the inner pack has a cigarette bundle of cigarettes, filter cigarettes or the like, and an inner wrapper for wrapping the cigarette bundle.
The opening end of the outer body is provided with a box-shaped lid at the rear edge of the opening end with a hinge therebetween. The lid is rotated around the hinge and allows the opening end to open and close. More specifically, the package includes an inner frame between the outer body and the inner pack. The inner frame has a U-shaped cross section that surrounds the inner pack and reinforces the opening end of the outer body. The inner frame has an upper end portion protruding from the opening end of the outer body, and the upper end portion guides the opening and closing of the lid.
The package is further wrapped in a transparent film with a tear tape. Such film wrapper is useful for preventing tampering on the inner pack.
As mentioned above, since the cigarette bundle is triply wrapped in the inner wrapper, the outer body and the film wrapper, the cigarette bundle is excessively wrapped. Therefore, the manufacture of packages of this kind not only consumes a large quantity of wrapping resources for cigarette bundles but also requires three wrapping steps to pack the bundle. Consequently, the packaging equipment for packages costs a great deal.
The tear tape of a film wrapper has a free end, or a pull end. Such a pull end helps opening the film wrapper, but on the other hand is deformed as it is in a free state, thereby easily curling up from the package.
For this reason, in a case that vending machines are used for dispensing the packages, the pull end of the tear tape is liable to get caught on a dispensing guide or the like for the packages in a vending machine. Such a catch could cause a trouble in the dispensing of the package from the vending machine. When the environment around the package is high in both temperature and humidity, the pull end of the tear tape is prone to curl up from the package, which frequently incurs the above-mentioned trouble.